Nawab Malik stands by his claim, asserts Sameer Wankhede is Muslim by birth

NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Sunday said he stood by his claims that the Narcotics Control Bureau's Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede was a Muslim by birth and had produced a bogus certificate to get government job.

Speaking to reporters here, Malik said he was not fighting a battle of caste or religion, but highlighting how a government job was obtained on a "bogus" caste certificate.

For the past several days, Malik has been targeting Wankhede, who had led a raid on a cruise ship here earlier this month during which drugs were allegedly recovered.

The minister has repeatedly claimed that the entire operation on the cruise ship on October 2, during which actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was held among others, was "fake".

Wankhede had earlier refuted the minister's allegations against him.

On Sunday, Malik claimed that even though the Wankhedes were Muslims, they started "changing their identity from 2015" after Sameer Wankhede came to limelight when he stopped some Bollywood celebrities at the Mumbai airport.

"On their social media accounts, Dawood Wankhede (the NCB official's father) became D.K. Wankhede and later Dyandev. Yasmeen Wankhede (the NCB official's sister) became Jasmine and she divorced her husband, who is a Muslim and is now settled in Europe," the NCP leader said.

He also took an objection to National Commission for Scheduled Castes vice chairman Arun Haldar's statement that the Wankhedes never converted.

"Haldar may be a BJP leader, but he is appointed to a constitutional post. He should verify all facts of what information he has been given, prepare his report and submit it to Parliament, instead of coming before the media and commenting that Wankhede did not convert. A person who is not from a Scheduled Caste cannot claim benefits," he said.

"Sameer Wankhede never converted because he is a Muslim by birth. His father had converted and both children are born Muslims. I am not fighting a battle of caste and religion, but I am highlighting how a government job was obtained on bogus caste certificate," Malik said.